Colorado’s Lindsey Vonn competes in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, with support from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, has convened a statewide committee of influential leaders to explore the feasibility of hosting a future Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Colorado.

People listened Saturday as Denver’s Olympic exploratory committee ran through its presentation: private funding that won’t cost the taxpayers, temporary venues, turning athlete housing into affordable housing after the 2026 or 2030 Winter Games finish, etc.

Afterward, members of the public took the mike. Some expressed frustration about public outreach attempts, sought more information about financial logistics or expressed uneasiness about the time frame. Others said they liked the idea.

But the meeting wasn’t about their thoughts and reactions.

“We want you to try to reserve your opinions as much as you can because today is all about listening,” moderator Nita Mosby Tyler said when the meeting started.

Saturday was the first meeting for the metro area’s “Sharing the Gold” advisory committee, which runs the gamut of local governments, law enforcement and community, business and minority groups, including the Whittier Neighborhood Association, Servicios de la Raza and Gates Family Foundation.

The group is one of many considering the possibility of Denver and Colorado bidding to host the 2026 or 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. The city has to decide by March whether it will bid. Things also hinge on whether the U.S. Olympic Committee ends up deciding that the United States wants to enter a bid.

The meeting, held at the McNichols Civic Center Building downtown, was meant to be educational. The next one, scheduled for Feb. 15, is when people get to express their opinions. During the final meeting March 3, the committee will decide whether they like the idea or not.

The committee asked the advisory board, which stretched from those who liked the idea to those who were ardently against it, to withhold its judgment.

“What you have are very large megaphones in this room,” Tyler said. “The risk around very large megaphones is if we use those megaphone prematurely, we really do interrupt the ability to get through this process.”

Exploratory committee chair Rob Cohen went through some of the ideas for hosting the Olympics. He acknowledged that Colorado previously rejected the Olympics after Denver was awarded the bid for the 1976 Games. But he said the city has changed since then and the issues people were concerned with — finances, environment, growth, transparency — could be handled now.

He shared some concerns the public has shared:

The financial and environmental cost of putting on the Games and building facilities.

Added congestion in Denver and the Interstate 70 corridor.

Denver and Colorado have bigger issues to contend with, including affordable housing and education.

Cities that have played host in the past have struggled financially afterward.

And some of the ideas the committee has:

The committee estimated that the Olympics would cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. It would be privately funded, aided by $950 million from the International Olympics Committee, ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorships. Cohen noted that Vancouver and Salt Lake City both ended the Olympics with a surplus of funds.

Colorado has all but three of the 16 required venues. Temporary venues or ones made of recycled material could be made for sliding, jumping and nordic skiing.

The Athletes Village could be used to help with Denver’s lack of affordable housing.

Coors Field and Mile High Stadium could hold the opening and closing ceremonies simultaneously. A parade route from one to the other could let more people see the ceremonies in person.

The advisory board members were tasked with talking to their various communities, gathering public input to bring to the next meeting.

The survey was the center of much criticisms, which ranged from a lack of accessibility for non-English speakers to accusations that questions were biased in favor of hosting the Olympics. Cohen said the committee will revisit the survey with the firm that created it to see if it needs changing.

Small step

This advisory committee is one of many steps that need to be taken swiftly to meet a March deadline.

The metro and mountain “Sharing the Gold” advisory committees will pass their recommendations to the community and civic engagement subcommittee, which is one of five subcommittees. All five will submit their recommendations to the exploratory committee, which will make its recommendation to Mayor Michael Hancock and Gov. John Hickenlooper.

If the U.S. Olympic Committee decides that it wants to put an American city in the race afterall, the mayor and governor will form a bid committee, who would then submit Denver.

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